TAG ARCHIVES: Alternative wedding cake ideas

For fear of sounding like Marjorie Dawes I must say I love a bit of cake. However, I’m no expert on the matter and if I was planning my own wedding I’ll be totally honest with you – I wouldn’t lose much sleep over choosing what is, essentially, a pudding…

Or so I thought.

Since working at Rock My Wedding these past two years or so, my eyes have been opened to so much W-day pretty – I think I can probably claim to be a bit of a wedding aficionado by now (just don’t ask me too much about flowers)… But I still get surprised and see something new nearly every single day. Who would have thought there was so much bloody cake out there for a start? I’m sure you simply couldn’t appreciate the sheer volume of options, flavours, colours, tiers, toppers, tables, designs, decorations etc… etc… until of course you sit down and start planning your own big day.

So, I decided I should have a look for myself on the wonderful web to see what is going on in cakesville. I went on a journey of discovery and what I found really does look too good to eat.

Pretty In Pink

Ombre is a big thing at the moment in the cake world. Taken from the french word for “shading” ombre describes when the colours graduate or appear to bleed into each other. Pink is really on trend and below you can see subtle hues of peach bleeding into vibrant colour pop cerise. Ace.

The detailing on Janet Mohapi-Banks Rose Wedding Cake is nothing short of breath-taking. Three hundred hand-pulled and hand coloured sugar roses show off the ombre technique to full effect.

In contrast the subtle approach taken with the two tiered baby pink piece is as striking as it is simple.

Purple Passion

Charlotte actually squealed when she saw the flowers in that vintage tea cup. And all the little sugar cubes with purple hearts on that spill from the cup to the table are pretty much the cutest things you will ever see on top of icing anywhere.

I’m a massive fan of the more subdued end of the colour spectrum so for me purples that range from an almost grey to an almost black really work well – especially if you combine them with a vibrant orange as we see below. Quite the alternative to white!

I am also loving the use of typography and the stripey cake reminds me of spending hours painting colour charts at primary school (but obviously this is much more chic and contemporary). The single white bloom adds an edge of elegance and beauty that I would have been incapable of conjuring up in poster paint as a slightly overactive seven year old.

Not So Mellow Yellow

This set of cakes is brighter than the sun and would suit an outdoors summer extravaganza perfectly. With cupcakes having been so popular for the last few years, a trend we are starting to see more and more now is a move away from cup cakes back to the larger cake.

Not too large though… An assortment of mini cakes as we see here and is really fun, really popular and looks great on your sweet table. It is also a really useful idea for those of you planning a small intimate W-day, where a large cake may go to waste.

Grey And Yellow

One of our favourite colour combinations at Rock My Wedding at the moment. I couldn’t go in search of cake and not sniff out a couple of yellow and grey beauties.

M Robin Cake Design actually colour the sponge to create the clean lines you see on the stripey yellow and grey cake – that isn’t icing!

I am well into a single bloom on a cake (can you tell that yet?) The touch of yellow adds a nice bit of sparkle to the grey vine decoration on the classically influenced creation bottom right.

I am also cheating a little bit here – There isn’t really any grey on the circular patterned creation from Cakes By Krishanthi but it is just so damn elegant that I had to include it here. I love the flash of colour and the way that the circles sort of “become” the craspedia is nothing short of a stroke of cake genius.

*ahem… Are they craspedia? Maybe I know more about flowers than I thought 😉

Peachy Keen

It is no secret that we are massive fans of peach here at Rock My Wedding… Well, today I present to you all kinds of peach cake – we even have the actual fruit sat a top a super subtle iced number.

If anyone is unsure of embracing peach in your colour scheme for w-day then this set of images is surely all you need to be convinced otherwise. The warm ice-cream pastel hues are perfect for a spring or summer wedding, subtle and refreshing – forget about the monstrosities of the late 80’s. Peach is back and looking good.

Taste The Rainbow

I’m going to finish today’s post with a splash of colour. Lurking underneath the stealth icing is a rainbow just waiting to be tasted – A great idea, particularly if you are having children at your wedding. If you fancy having a go at making one you can view the full tutorial here.

And to continue on the rainbow theme, check out this selection of multi-coloured beauties… We have here influences from pop art and in the lower pictures another example of using a selection of miniature cakes, rather than one large tiered affair.

To Top Things Off

I couldn’t go without showing you a few of my favourite cake toppers… I am in actual awe of Lace Rubbish who create alternative bespoke figures for the top of your cake, they are the bees ruddy knees.

A few cheaper D.I.Y options for you too – we have already seen fruit but seriously, how cool is that apple? Also, the photo frame idea is a great alternative to figurines and the miniature bunting is not only really cute but also a really simple D.I.Y project.

So, having thought that I wasn’t really in to cake much (At least not into choosing a cake – EVERYONE is into eating cake, surely?) it turns out that I might actually be blowing the majority of the Adam & Kylie Wedding* budget on a vast range of the fanciest, most colourful cakes in all of blogland.

Although to be honest, maybe I am getting carried away here. After all my Mum makes a pretty mean fruit cake (Hi Mum…) and she is a bit of a diva with the old icing bag too – so I could save myself a massive wedge of cash and still have a cake that the guests would be guaranteed to rave about… Hmmm, decisions, decisions…

So, what are you folks doing? How much budget is set aside for your cake and who out there is going down the home made route?

Maybe you are not having a cake at all?

Please share your thoughts in the comments section, it is always great to hear your plans and opinions.